Artificial foliage and method of



vJIL AbLER-,JR Y l Rue'fzielfwli myrmrcm. FOLIAGB AND montos' MAKING l'Qin-31u51 mea rieb. 42.1.` 1954 vnu/afar 2 v ppg 47 C007' WITH EAK!" i*A y al INK P1195 TIJL y jf/mkh 'l Zonage/ff dtrfrf Y j 24,114 ARTIFICIALFOLIAGE AND IMETHOD F d MAKING SAME Y Joseph I. Adler, Jr., Chicago,Ill. ollllllll N0. 2,716,828, dated September 6, 1955, Sel'lll No.411,731, February 23, 1954. Application for reilueNovember 21, 1955,Serial No. 548,296

Claims. (Cl. 41-13) Matter enclosed ln heavy brackets [Il appears in the:nirlglnal patent but forms no part of this reissue specifin; matterprinted in italics indicates the additions made by reisue.

I This invention is particularly concerned with a novel constructionfor'artificial foliage and method of making same.'

Artificial foliage of various kinds is widely used both for displaypurposes in commercial establishments and for decorative purposescommercially and in the home. Heretofore, artificial foliage has beenmade either from cloth, paper or plastic sheeting which has beenpreformed to a suitable configuration simulating natural foliage. Thefoliage may have a coating thereon of a suitable agent, such as shellac,to attain a high gloss. In some instances such foliage has beenimprinted or embossed with designs simulating the veins of naturalfoliage and suitably colored to simulate a particular type or leaf, ifdesired. Artificial foliage of the prior art is attractive and displaysof'such foliage are well known to be relatively expensive and in mostcases, even more expensive thanthe natural counterparts.

However, these prior art structures all possess many commondisadvantages, one of the principal ones of which is inllammability.Especially in the case of the cloth or paper variety,rsubstantiallyinstantaneous consumption could be expected once the'foliage becameignited. Great care has to be exercised as to the location at which thefoliage is placed and constant care must be taken to prevent same fromcatching fire. Other disadnatural foliage, and particularly in thedierent degree of flexibility, texture, and color which natural foliageis found to possess. Artificial foliage of the prior art also fadesafter extended periods of exposure to sunlight or electric lights and insome instances has been known to shrivel at the edges when exposed toroom heat. Even with all of these recognized disadvantages, suchartificial foliage continues to be expensive.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to providearticial foliage of the character described and a novel' method 'ofmaking same which will eliminate completely the fire hazards attendantupon prior art structures *and substantially eliminate all of the otherdisadvantages above enumerated. y

Anotherimportanr object of the invention is to pro- 'vide artificialfoliage and method of making same as hereinafter described which willgreatly reduce the cost of artificialv foliage displays to the public.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and unique methodfor making artificial foliage of the character described which may becarried out with marked simplicity,ease and rapidity, which method doesnot require highly expensive or complicated equipment and which isespecially adapted to mass production techniques.-

Other important objects of the invention are to provide artificialfoliage of the character described com` paring more favorably'inappearance, texture and liexibility with natural foliage than heretoforehas been possible, and which does not fade or shrivel after extendedperiods of use.

vantages include the failure more closely to replicate ICC 2 Anotherobject of the invention is to provide artificial foliage of thecharacter described and a novel method of making the same in which thefoliage comprises a preformed member formed from cloth, paper or plasitic and coated with a plastisol composition which, .to the best ofapplicant's knowlege and'belief, has never before I been used in themanufacture of artificial foliage and by reason of which the.distinctive advantages of this inv` vention are attained.

These and other objects ofthe invention will become apparent as thedescription thereof evolves, a preferred embodiment of the structure andmethod of making same being more fully described and shownin thespecifici. tion and accompanying drawings and lmore particularly pointedout in, the appended claims. in the structural features of the foliageand in the various steps of the method of making same are contemplatedwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the inventron.

Fig. .l is a perspective view of an artificial `leaf `colxstructed inaccordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fiowdiagram illustrating the novel method of making saidleaf in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional wew takenthrough the preformed memberprior to being coated and .greatly enlarged to show details thereof.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken through the said leaf alongthe line 4--4 of Fig. 1 and in the direction indicated.

Thev reference character 10 tion.

illustrative purposes, it being understood that the foliage embodyingthe invention may be formed in any desired l .l

size and form. Same comprises a pre-formed shape, carrier blank, aportion 11 of said blank being shown in Fig. 3. 'I'he blank 11 may beformed from cloth,

paper or plastic, but it is preferred that such material may have aportion 15 extending outwardly of the leaf to provide "means forassembling the leaf in a foliage display. s

'Ihe member l1 may have imprinted or embossed thereon a design 16 in theform oflines and shadingv simulating the veins and surfaces of a naturalleaf. 'If required, the member 1l may have been colored to. ap-

proximate the color of a natural leaf sought to be replicated. Whereimprinted or embossed, it will be found that the surfaces of the member11' will have become irf regular to provide troughs 17 and greatlyexaggerated in Fig. 3.

l1 may also be formed with smooth surfaces, however,

it is believed that the irregular formationl more 'closely approximatesits natural counterpart. A A uniform coating 19 of a synthetic plasticco tion is aiiixed over said member 1l completely covering f same, thewire strand 12 and portion l5 thereof. The coating 19 consists of aplastisol composition applied thinly on the member 11, including, ofcourse, the troughs 17 and peaks 18 and solidied thereon. .The coating lis transparent enabling the designV 16 to readily visible therethroughand is flexible to a degree enabling the leaf 10 very closely toreplicate the textureappearanee and rtance is that flexibility of anatural leaf. Of prim the coating 19 is flame-proof and resists x'-oration and also, prevents shrivelling of the the leaf 10.

` Re. 24,114 s Minor variations j designates generally an a artificialleaf constructed in accordance with the invert.v The configuration shownin Fig. 1 is strictly for which has been wrapped peaks 1'8 thereon as"Of course, the member' Y 3 Even after long periods of exposure tosunlight or artificial light, Vthe color of member 11 and design 16 doesnot fade so thatthe .leafV l maintains its beautiful and attractiveappearance. l

We now consider: the novel'method of making the leaf l0, reference being`had 'tov Fig. 2 wherein a simplified flow diagram of the'method isshown. The method is particularly suitable f or mass productiontechniques ,and hence the various- "steps m` ay be carried out on anassembly line including a conveyor' belt system or turntable arrangementat suitable points thereon. The first step is to preform the blankmember l1 and attach the strand 12. The member 11 may have been rstimprinted or embossed with vthe design 16. If desired, the member ll maybe purchased already pre-formed and with the strand 12 attached andhence this step does not comprise a part of the novel method of theinvention.

The ensuing steps may then be carried out employing assembly-lineprocedure. The member 11 is passed into a heating chamber 20, forinstance, by placing same on a conveyor belt or turntable, andpre-heated slowly to drive off any moisture captured in the member. Theoptimum temperaturefat which the pre-heating is conducted is relativelyunimportant, it being necessary only to drive off captured .moisturewithout charring the member 11.

The pre-heating chamber may lhave heat lamps or filaments suitablyarranged for heating the member 11 which is'passing along a conveyorbelt or turntable.

, After pre-heating, the member 11 is removed from the chamber 20 andimmediately coated with the plastisol composition. The interim betweenremoval from the chamber 20 and coating must be at a minimum so as toreduce absorption of water due to cooling of the hot member l1. Auniform, thin coating of the plastisol is applied either manually suchas by rubbing the coating on or by first dipping same into the plastisoland thereafter spreading or squeezing the coating on. Other well knownprocedures may also be employed. It is desirable thatthe coating berelatively thin since the thicker the coating, the less degree oftransparency attained therefor.

`It is important torealize that the plastisol composition is quiteviscous, such that dipping, while possible, is none the lessimpractical.

which achieve the same functions as this manual step are obviouslywithin the scope of the invention. This would include calendaring,squeezing, etc.

After the coating 19 has been applied, the blank 1l is racked and passedinto a second heating chamber 22. The leaf is baked in chamber 22 at atemperature of from 275 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit until the coating 19solidifies. I have found that for satisfactory results at a minimum timein chamber 22, the leaf may be baked at approximately 350 degreesFahrenheit for from one to three minutes depending upon the thickness ofthe coating 19. Such a short period of baking enables speedymanufacturing and reduces the cost per leaf.

Pre-heating of the member 11 in chamber 20 and imto be Asatisfactorybecause they fail to provide the high degree of transparency desired,speed with which my novel method may be carried out with mass productiontechniques and proper flexibility of the coating 19. An y example of theplastisol composition whichis employed in this invention is as follows:l

The effect ofthe coating of the invention is to produce artificialfoliage which is smooth and water-proof, hence easy to clean. It islustrous and flexible, giving a live appearance. Its transparencyenables the colors to appear to come from the interior of the article,which makes the article evenmore life-like. The coating has no effectupon shape, causes no shrinkage or warping or change of color. Thearticle is light in weight and the coating is not so thick as to renderthe article clumsy or mis- Greatest success has been achieved by simplysmearing the plastisol on by hand. Procedures mediate coating thereofupon removal from said chamber l is most important. Ihave foundthatwhere the blank is not pre-heated or done `so properly and where thecoating is not appliedwith minimum loss of time after removalof themember' 1l f rom the chamber 20 results in bubbling or othe'runsightlyeruptions on the coating 19 after it is baked in the chamber 22.- `Iprefer also that the member 11 be formed from paper, cloth or plastic ofsubstantially non-porous nature. This reduces the amount of moisturevwhich may be entrapped therein and also prevents saturation of themember 11 by the plastisol. The coating 19 is therefore desired to beonly on the surfaces of member 1l, so as more uniformly to provide thedesired thin.. transparent coating of plastisol.

The plastisol composition which I employ enables manufacture of the'leaf 10 with its attendantadvantages.

shapen in appearance.

lt is believed that the invention has been described sufficiently toenable same to be comprehended and practiced as required by the patentstatutes. It 1s desired to be limited in the scope of inventiveachievement only as set forth in the claims hereto appended.

What is desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An artificial leaf comprising a flexible fabric sheet preformed tosimulate the configuration of a natural leaf and having reproduced oneach surface thereof a leaf design replicating color, veins and surfacetexture Aof a natural leaf, a stem-forming member secured to a surfaceof said sheet, said sheet having a coating of transparent,non-inflammable plastisol on said surfaces and encasing the stem member,said coating being thin and substantially unifonn whereby lightreflected from said artificial leaf appears to an observer to haveoriginated from within said leaf in simulation of natural leafv effects.

2. An artificial leaf as described in claim 1 in which said coating is avinyl resin plastisol characterized by its high degree of flexibility.

3. A method for making an artificial leaf comprising forming a flexiblefabric sheet member to simulate the configuration of a natural leaf andreproducingl on each surface of said sheet member a leaf designreplicating color, veins and surface texture of a natural leaf, aixing astem-forming member to a surface of said sheet member, pre-heating saidsheet member, encasing said sheet member and'stem-forming member in aflexible, uniformly thin [non-inflammable] plastisol envelope and thenbaking said leaf to solidify the plastisol into a flexible transparentenvelope.

4. A method as described in claim 3 in which the time permitted toelapse between pre-heating and encasing of the sheet member is a minimumamount.

5. A method as described in claim 3 in which' said envelope is formed byapplying a thin coat of said vinyl resin plastisol to each surface ofthe sheet member and over the stem member.

References Cited in the file of this patent or the original patentUNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Vinyl Plants, Modern Plastics,June 1921, page

